Myriad Dangers of Smoking on the Body

Surely you are already familiar with the warning "no smoking", right? These two words can easily be found anywhere. Smoking is prohibited because of the many dangers of smoking that can interfere with your body's health. Every cigarette you smoke increases your risk of heart disease. It is estimated that at least 20% of deaths from heart disease are directly related to smoking.

Content of harmful cigarettes

Why are cigarettes so dangerous and what are the other negative effects of smoking? The danger of smoking can be caused by the contents contained in a cigarette. More than 4000 chemicals found in it. At least 60 of these chemicals can cause cancer. Dangerous ingredients in a cigarette include:

• Carbon monoxide

These substances which cannot be seen or felt are often found in car exhaust fumes. This substance can bind itself to hemoglobin in the blood permanently, thus blocking the supply of oxygen to all parts of the body. This carbon monoxide tends to make you feel out of breath and also gets tired more easily.

• Tar

When smoking, the tar content in cigarettes will be sucked up. This substance will settle in your lungs and have a negative impact on the performance of fine hair lining the lungs. In fact, the hair is responsible for pushing germs and other foreign particles out of your lungs. Tar in cigarette smoke contains a variety of carcinogenic chemicals, which can trigger the development of cancer cells in the body.

• Oxidant gas

This gas can react with oxygen. The presence of oxidants in the body increases the risk of stroke and heart attack.

• Benzene

Substances added to this fuel oil can damage cells at the genetic level. This substance is also associated with various types of cancer such as kidney cancer and leukemia.

In addition to the above ingredients, there are still many toxic chemical contents in a cigarette such as arsenic (used in pesticides), formaldehyde or formaldehyde (used to preserve corpses), hydrogen cyanide (used to make chemical weapons), and ammonia.

Various Health Disorders Due to Smoking

The chemicals contained in cigarettes are very dangerous for your health and also the people around you. The dangers of smoking to health include:

• Cardiovascular Disorders

When you smoke, you are more likely to have a heart attack. Smokers have a risk of two to four times higher heart disease. The risk is even higher if you are a female smoker who is taking birth control pills. When smoking, you enter harmful substances that can have a negative impact on the body, especially the heart, for example nicotine. When nicotine enters the body, it can reduce the level of oxygen that can enter the blood. These opiate substances can also speed up the heart rate, raise blood pressure, damage blood vessels in the heart, and increase the likelihood of blood clots that can trigger heart attacks. Likewise with adverse effects on other body organs. The danger of smoking can also be felt by people who don't smoke at all. Cigarette smoke can cause heart disease and lung cancer in passive smokers, ie people who do not smoke but still inhale the smoke.

• Brain

The danger of smoking can increase the risk of stroke by 50 percent. This can cause brain damage and death. Smoking can also increase the risk of experiencing brain aneurysms. Brain aneurysm is swelling of blood vessels that occurs due to weakening of blood vessel walls. At times it can rupture and cause bleeding in the brain.

• Mouth and throat

Bad breath and stained teeth are effects that will arise from smoking. Gum disease and sensory damage can also arise due to the dangers of smoking. A serious problem that will settle on the mouth and throat is an increased risk of cancer of the tongue, throat, lips, and vocal cords.

• Lungs

One of the most dangerous effects due to smoking is lung cancer. The chemicals in cigarettes have the potential to damage lung cells which can then turn into cancer cells. Other serious illnesses that you can experience are bronchitis, pneumonia and emphysema.

• Stomach

Smoking can weaken the muscles that control the lower part of your esophagus. This allows the acid from the stomach to move in the wrong direction, which is up into the esophagus. This condition is called gastric acid disease or GERD. Some other risks of stomach disease that can occur in a smoker are ulcers or peptic ulcers and gastric cancer.

• Bone

Toxins in cigarettes can cause bone fragility. Therefore, smokers are more at risk of developing brittle bones or osteoporosis. Female smokers are more prone to suffer from osteoporosis compared to nonsmokers.

• Skin

Smokers will look older than nonsmokers, due to lack of oxygen to the skin. Premature aging will be felt, such as the appearance of wrinkles around the eyes and mouth. Cigarette poison can also cause cellulite on the skin.

• Reproductive organs

Smoking can interfere with your reproductive system and fertility. In men, smoking can cause impotence, reduce sperm production, and testicular cancer. While in women, smoking can reduce fertility. In addition, the risk of cervical cancer is even higher because smoking reduces the body's natural ability to fight infection with human papillomavirus or HPV.

• Psychological disorder

In addition to physical illness, smokers also experience higher levels of stress than those who don't smoke. During this time you might think smoking can make you more relaxed. You think the nicotine content can calm your mind, but it turns out it's wrong. What makes smokers nervous and anxious is the withdrawal symptoms of nicotine. By smoking, addiction to nicotine will be fulfilled and smokers feel like cigarettes reduce stress.

Indeed, not all smokers will die of heart disease, lung cancer, or stroke, but smoking can seriously damage your health and reduce your quality of life. The dangers of smoking that you can feel everyday are coughing, shortness of breath, more easily tired, more susceptible to infections, or experiencing sleep disturbances which are characterized by difficulty breathing at night then feeling tired in the morning. Maybe you are used to hearing the dangers of smoking to the body, but you still do not stop smoking because you feel that your health is still fine. Keep in mind, smoking is the same as saving toxins in the body that can gradually accumulate if done continuously. That way, the risk of suffering from the disease will be higher in old age. Not only you, the closest people will feel the effect because they also breathe in toxic cigarette smoke. Therefore, immediately stop this harmful habit.